A Creative Communication blog

Aubrielle is a Top Ten Winner for our fall 2016 national poetry contest for her poem “Pacific Beach.”

Greetings! I am a 10 year old girl from Colorado and currently attend the 5th grade. I love expressing myself through writing. My interests include reading, baking, art and sports such as snowboarding, running, tennis, gymnastics and swimming. I am currently working on a project to help save and preserve the last wild “Big Cats.” I was inspired to write the poem, “Pacific Beach” because after visiting San Diego, I wanted to share the beauty of California with my family and friends. My goals for the future are to continue to write about what inspires me and hopefully become a published author. I also hope to become a professional athlete and go to the Olympics someday!

What inspired me to write my poem was just a scene in a picture in the Denver Art Museum. Basically what happened was at literacy time in my school I was trying to come up with a poem that was meant to be a descriptive calm poem but I only came up with three sentences. So then I remembered a piece I had done on a field trip where we were supposed to pick out a painting in the Denver Art Museum and I chose a beautiful mountain scene and combined it with the three sentences I had already made. My goals for the future are to be an archeologist in space and to buy a kitten or a puppy. Also, I want to create the biggest library out of my room.

Tess is a top ten winner of our spring 2017 national poetry contest for her poem “Mermaid“.

I am Tess Lielle Cranford. I am 11 years old, a home school student and live in La Quinta, California. I love poetry. It’s a way to speak your feelings without saying a word. I also love painting, sculpting, balloon artistry and my three legged cat, Kitty. I wrote the poem, Mermaid, based on my love of mythical creatures especially mermaids. I wrote it in an un-rhyming sonnet form. I do not like to rhyme but I love to experiment with different forms of poetry. Some of my goals for the future are to continue being a lover of art, writing more poetry and having a farm with lots of animals. “She believed she could, and so she did” unknown

Tia Petratos is a Top Ten Winner for our fall 2016 national poetry contest for her poem “Ode to My Grandpa.”

Hello, my name is Tia Petratos. I am eleven years old and I attend 5th Grade at Fry Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois. I love to dance. I am on a competitive dance team. My favorite subjects in school are math, writing, and science. I speak fluent Greek. The inspiration for my poem, Ode to My Grandpa, is my grandfather who has had Alzheimer’s disease for four years. I chose to write about him because he is one of the people I love dearly. In fact, he is my best pal! Seeing someone you love so much forget about you, and all of the fun memories you share is scary and sad. His memories quickly disappeared before my eyes, never to come back. So, I wanted to express my feelings and thoughts through this poem. My goals for the future are to go to Northwestern in order to study Medicine. I would also like to write a children’s book. Remember to cherish your memories, because they may not last forever.

Karlie Dietz is a Top Ten Winner for our spring 2017 national poetry contest for her poem “Gasoline.”

I was inspired to write my poem “Gasoline” because I feel that young women should be able to speak their minds freely and not be subjected to anyone or anything. My biggest goal for my future right now is to hopefully get accepted into University of Michigan.

Sarah Chocron is a Top Ten Winner for our spring 2017 national poetry contest for her poem “The Writer’s Way.”

My name is Sarah Chocron and I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. At age 11, I moved to Wichita, KS, where I know go to school. During my spare time, I enjoy drinking coffee with friends, drawing, and listening to jazz music (Coltrane is probably my favorite). Perhaps my greatest inspiration for my poem was a very lucky lack of inspiration… at the time, I had to write a poem for an assignment and all day I was out of ideas until I figured I should write about… WRITING and how powerful words can be. I hope to one be able to combine a career in technology and design and very hopefully attend Carnegie Mellon University. Until then, I set a goal for myself to keep writing, reading, and being creative!

I have taught 8th grade English for the past 15 years and currently work for Detroit Country Day Middle School in Beverly Hills, MI where I challenge young adults to grow as readers, writers, and thinkers even as they navigate the social pressures of middle school. Throughout the years, I have had the pleasure of working with especially capable students, and I regularly encourage them to submit writing to a variety of contests, including Creative Communication, in hopes that they will be recognized beyond the classroom for their talents.

My experience of regularly blogging for two years taught me the power of metaphor and simile to effectively communicate a message. Whenever I used a metaphor or simile in my blog posts, I’d notice an uptick in the “likes” and “comments” received from my readers. I share this first-hand lesson with my students and remind them to use metaphor and simile to help their readers connect more closely with their ideas. Last year, one of my 8th graders won a national writing contest for a Metaphor Poem that he wrote about his autistic brother.

Additionally, I encourage students to view their writing assignments as an opportunity to create a new “thing” that doesn’t already exist in the world. Tapping into the recent buzz around the Design Thinking Process, I suggest to students that writing is a form of engineering, and, as such, should have purpose, empathy for its intended audience, a prototype for feedback and adjustment, impactful structure, etc. In this way, I invite students, especially those who favor math and science, to view their English language class through a fresh lens. Furthermore, in an effort to show students that writing matters and is valued at our school, I initiated a program called Writers’ Lounge, a series of writing workshops facilitated by professional writers, either in person or via Skype, who expose students to different genres of writing, like advertising copy writing, and who serve as role models for students hoping to pursue writing as a career.

I believe that “good” writing engages the reader right away and keeps the reader in its grasp. It communicates clearly such that the reader can empathize with the writer’s point of view, whether he/she agrees with it or not, and it connects the writer and reader through a shared vision and/or a compelling argument. Frequently, I tell students that “good” writing transcends time, place, and discipline; essentially, it never goes out-of-style. Yes, communication devices will continue to evolve, but at the end of the day, successful television shows, movies, songs, and even video games stand on the shoulders of quality writing.

Lastly, here’s the truth: “good” writing takes time. Students need time to draft, time to solicit reader reaction, time to revise (again and again), and time to edit carefully. Before submitting to a writing contest, I expect students to invest the time necessary to produce work that makes them proud.

Flora Huang is a Top Ten Winner for our spring 2017 national essay contest for her essay “Snowy Memories.”

My name is Flora Huang, a normal eleven-year-old who will be entering 6th grade next autumn. I was first introduced to Poetic Power last spring when my tutor suggested that I enter a writing contest such as this one. At first, I was too embarrassed and turned down the idea, but after some further thought I decided to gather up my courage and give it a try. Finding a good topic was difficult, and I frequently found my essay extremely limited due to the fact that it must be under 300 words. However, in the end, I was able to complete my work in time with some encouragement from my family and tutor.

I’ve enjoyed writing since I first learned to read, yet I don’t have any specific goals for my future as of now. I will continue to enter writing contests to fine-tune my skills, and see where things take me in terms of my writing.

My name is Isabella Marie Touseull and I am 12 years old and I just finished my 6th grade school year at North Pocono Middle School in Moscow Pennsylvania. I entered the Creative Communication contest for the Fall 2016 anthology and was chosen for publication as well but did not make the Top Ten but this time I did!!! I love to write poetry as well as short stories and even songs. I love to draw, paint and work with clay. I play the violin and participate in the school orchestra and I love to sing and I am a member of my school’s chorus. I also love to act and be on stage. I am a member of my school’s drama club and perform in the community for various events. My favorite sport to play is tennis and I take lessons every week and can’t wait to join the tennis team at school. My family consists of my mother, Kathleen Touseull, my father, Joel Touseull and me! My family means the world to me. I also have two German Shepherd dogs, one girl, whose name is Pandora and one boy, whose name is Karma. They are just the best doggies ever! I hope to become a pediatrician when I am older because I love children (babies especially) and I love helping people. I was inspired to write my poem because I think that the world could always use more love and kindness. Each one of us has our own story and we should respect each other and even if we may not understand or agree with someone or something, we always have the power to be kind. That is a choice. That is why I entitled my poem “Just Be Kind“. Even the smallest act of kindness can change someone’s day and it is easy enough to do. My future goals are big! I hope to do well in school and go to college but I also hope to make a mark on this world and be a person who is known for their kindness because after all that is what really matters.

My name is Emily Daza and I was selected as one of the Top Ten Winners for the Summer 2016 essay contest. The essay I submitted to Creative Communication in the seventh to ninth grade category was, “The Bicycle.”

I am fifteen years old and currently in tenth grade. I attend Laurel Springs School, an accredited private online high school. In the future, I would like to become either an epidemiologist or a medical librarian.

Some of my hobbies are reading, writing, volunteering at my local library, and constructing Lego Architecture kits. My favorite author is Ray Bradbury and I absolutely love all of Edgar Allan Poe’s chilling poems as well as short stories.

My main inspiration for my essay was the memories I have of my grandfather. Though he passed away when I was seven years old, I can still remember him teaching me to ride a bike and this in turn became my motivation to write, “The Bicycle.” He was such an inspiring person and my grandfather always believed in my abilities.

When I received the letter from Creative Communication, I was filled with happiness and shock. I am very appreciative of writing contests such as these because they are ways in which an individual’s writing can be shared with other people.